Ata Tengri: numerological symbolism and evolution of the cult of deity

The article examines the features of the numerical symbolism of the ancient Mongol deity Ata tengri and its transformation in the context of historical circumstances. As the preamble states, Ata tengri is one of the highest tengri in the shamanist pantheon, which has a special place in the sacred tradition of the Mongolian people. The genesis of his image as the head of the eastern celestials goes back to the Turkic-Mongol ethno-cultural community, which was reflected in the Turkic semantics of its theonym Ata (‘father, elder’) and is described by the Mongolian chromatic epithet Ulaan (‘red’) that retained the traces of solar cult as worship of the rising sun. Overall, Ata Ulaan tengri is a syncretic deity whose polistadial image reflects different stages of development of representations about it, in which not only the lateral and colour symbolism, but also numerological one played an important role and was expressed in symbolic numbers 13 and 5. When considering the symbolism of the number 13 which is typical for the shamanist mythology of Mongol tribes, it is revealed that in relation to Ata tengri this number serves as its numerological epithet expressing the concept of multiplicity and power. In support of this thesis, the article discusses the cult of Thirteen Ata tengri dating back to the ancestors of Genghis Khan, which is preserved among the Ordos Hatagins, the people living on territory of Inner Mongolia (China), and has numerological parallels in ritual practice of Khalkha-Mongols and Buryats as well. With regard to the later number of symbol 5 in diachronic terms, being borrowed from the actual Buddhist numerology of Indo-Tibetan origin, it points to certain transformation of the image Ata tengri in the Uranian representations of the Mongols. The author concludes that the numerological epithetics Ata tengri, which is presented in the sacred numbers 13 and 5, reflects, in the former case, the high hierarchical status of the iconic character of the shamanist mythology, whereas in the second case it is influence of the Buddhist factor on the traditional beliefs of the Mongols, resulting in the deformation of the pantheon of tengri deities. In general, numerological symbolism of Ata tengri is a special stadial indicator of the evolution of its shamanistic cult during the spread of Buddhism in Mongolia.